Mustangs Outpace the Outlaws

It was a warm, breezy Saturday afternoon at Pennington Field in Bedford, TX as the Lone Star Mustangs hosted the Austin Outlaws in the third meeting between the two teams this season. The Outlaws won the first two meetings leaving the Mustangs hungry to pick up the win as they are fighting to make the playoffs in their first season.

The hunger paid off as the Mustangs used a two touchdown second quarter to catapult them in to the lead and hold off the Outlaws 28-14. Quarterback Jennifer Hull hooked up with Yo Grant twice for touchdown passes as the Mustangs held on to the ball for almost the entire second quarter keeping Outlaws running back Shadana Hurd on the other side of the ball and unable to use her speed to burn the Mustangs.

“I’m still catching my breath,” Mustangs coach Mike Ellington said after the game. “We had a great day today. We came out with a little different look on offense than Austin saw last time,” referring to running a straight ahead power running game with backs Brittany Satterwhite, Shug Fossis and Stephanie Wakefield. “It was definitely the right thing to do in this case.”

That change in offensive strategy allowed the Mustangs to hold the ball for most of the first half and limit Austin’s chances on offense. “In order to beat this team, we needed to keep them off the field on offense.” That led to Coach Ellington and his staff to bring out “the big dogs” as he called them. Ellington referred to Satterwhite, Fossis and Wakefield in their T formation backfield as three fullbacks, and the ladies kept the chains moving and Hurd off the offense side of the field.

The defense did their part too shutting down the Austin offense when it was on the field. When Austin needed scores late in the game, the defense came up with the plays to seal the game including an interception by Joy “Hybrid” Newkirk.

“Thankful,” Newkirk said when asked about the interception. “I always miss in practice. Everyone on the team knows I can’t catch, and I was just praying and praying, ‘Don’t let me drop it. Don’t let me drop it.’”

“Defense played pretty well today,” said Defensive Coordinator Tom Mackinnon after the game. Mackinnon was especially happy with the play of Ebony Jones, Eboni Vicenti, DJ Gay, Alex “The Animal” Harvey, and Jona Boney.

The game started with the national anthem sang by Mustangs player Deondra Selph. The Mustangs won the coin toss and elected to receive in the first half. On their first drive, the Mustangs converted two fourth downs, benefited from a free play on a defensive offsides and narrowly avoided an interception. Regardless, the drive ended with a Mustangs touchdown when Hull tossed the first of her two touchdown passes to Yo Grant. After a missed two point conversion, the score was 6-0 Mustangs.

The Outlaws started at the Mustangs 44 yard line after a stellar kick-off return by Monica Gauck. The Outlaws were able to benefit from a face mask and an offsides by the Mustangs setting the ball at the 3 yard line. Shadana Hurd, the Outlaws outstanding back, raced in around the left side for the touchdown. The PAT was good, and the Outlaws had their only lead of the game 7-6 with 5 minutes in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kick-off, disaster struck for the Mustangs. After executing a reverse on the previous kick-off return, the Mustangs faked the reverse and appeared that the returner had plenty of room, but the ball came loose and it was covered by Hurd for the Outlaws. However, following a sack on first down by Alex Harvey, the Outlaws were forced to punt the ball back to the Mustangs.

From there, the Mustangs dominated the second quarter holding the ball all but a little over a minute of the quarter. For almost 7 minutes, the Mustangs drove the ball from their own 22 yard line. The drive ended when, once again, Hull found tight end Yo Grant for another touchdown with 8:01 left in the half. The two point conversion was no good, and the score was 12-7 Mustangs.

Then, the Mustangs executed a perfect on-sides kick. After they were penalized on the kick-off for both the kick going out of bounds and an offsides, the Mustangs were forced to re-kick. That’s when kicker Kristen Broussard booted a perfect looping kick that landed 15 yards down field near the far side. While the Outlaws stood confused, the Mustangs special teams jumped on the ball recovering the on-sides kick. The Mustangs got the ball back at the Outlaws 49 yard line.

The strategy paid off as the Mustangs were able to drive down the field for another score. Hull completed a key third down pass to a diving Etta Maytubby. Hull also completed a key fourth down pass. The Mustangs utilized a formation they had used earlier in the game called the “bunch.” Four receivers will line up to one side of the field while Hull takes the snap from the shotgun. The defense expected one of the receivers to catch the ball, but Hull tossed it over to the middle to Maytubby who got the ball to the 3 yard line. From there, Shug Fossis powered in to the end-zone for the third score. Maytubby also caught a two point conversion, and the Mustangs led 20-7 with 34 seconds left in the half.

The second half started with the two teams trading possessions, neither team able to score. The Outlaws were able to get the ball down to the Mustangs 16 on their second drive, but Eboni Vicenti of the Mustangs recovered a fumble with 4:25 left in the third quarter. However, the Mustangs drive stalled when on the first play of the fourth quarter, Hull was intercepted by Gauck.

Then, the Outlaws took over. Starting from their own 25 yard line, they seem to find the offense they were missing all game overcoming a sack and mixing some pass in with their run. On a 3rd down and 21, quarterback Melissa Fielder was able to find Gauck who sped her way to a first down all the way down to the Mustangs 34 yard line. Free safety Daniela “Jersey” Ottaiano saved a touchdown. However, Gauck would get in the end-zone later making the score 20-14 Mustangs with 6:01 left in the game.

Holding on to a 20-14 lead, the Mustangs offense went to work. Satterwhite, Ashley McCuin, and DJ Gay kept the chains moving as the Mustangs utilized the run game to drain the clock and move down the field. The drive ended when Satterwhite got in to the end-zone on a 15 yard run with a minute left in the game. Satterwhite also tacked on the 2 point conversion, and the score was 28-14. The Outlaws were unable to get a score on the following drive, with Newkirk coming up with the interception that sealed the game.

The game with the Outlaws was the last regular season game. The East Texas Saberkats who were scheduled to play the Mustangs on June 13 at Pennington Field folded, so the game has been canceled. The Mustangs must wait until Austin and H-Town finish their season and series to find out if they will make the playoffs.

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